Abstract

In early 2003 our team announced the discovery of the second extrasolar transiting planet, around the faint star OGLE-TR-56 (V = 16.6), based on the detection of small changes in the radial velocity of the primary. The star was originally identified as a candidate by the OGLE team from the shallow and periodic dips in its brightness. We present here new precise radial velocity measurements that confirm the variation measured earlier, supporting the conclusion that the companion is indeed a planet. Additional photometric observations are also available, which combined with the spectroscopy yield improved parameters (mass and radius) for the planet.